A Gilbert Town Council member named in two ethics complaints and as having threatened a landowner’s project that was before council said he will put “principles over personality” going forward.
Council Member Jim Torgeson acknowledged he has “found myself getting into the mud” but pledged to refocus in an email he sent to his fellow council members, Town Manager Patrick Banger, Town Attorney Christopher Payne, members of the media covering Gilbert and Arizona Legislative District 14 Republic Party Chairman Andrew Adams.
“As a town, we face issues that have no quick fixes,” Torgeson wrote. “We have decisions to make that are far more impactful than what we have been forced to focus on lately. I am making the commitment to not allow distractions that impede from my goals of keeping Gilbert a vibrant and healthy family friendly community honoring its values of low taxes and great services.”
Torgeson was named in two ethics complaints filed this month, the first by Gilbert resident and LD14 GOP precinct committee member Maureen "Mo" Hoppe and the second by Mayor Brigette Peterson.
Hoppe’s complaint alleged Torgeson had spread misinformation and failed to correct it when shown it was wrong that led to Hoppe being harassed in LD14 GOP circles. Peterson’s complaint was about how Torgeson spoke of her in a voicemail to Hoppe that was included as evidence in Hoppe’s complaint.
Torgeson sent his email statement, which he also posted on social media, on the evening of a July 27 report from the Gilbert Independent that Cooley Station landowner Jeff Cooley had told Peterson that Torgeson was threatening votes against the District at Cooley Station project if Cooley did not promise the town not to sue if commuter rail did not come to Cooley Station.
Torgeson has denied the threats and the content of Hoppe’s complaints but said after Peterson’s complaint that he stood by every word of the voicemail.
His July 27 statement took a different tone, noting the distraction to the town’s business.
“I have found myself getting into the mud rather than fulfilling my role as a council member,” he wrote. “I have not responded as a servant to our community, but rather as wanting to defend my reputation. I have (been) responding viscerally rather than intellectually, which has to stop.
“Although I will stand behind my position without hesitation, I feel it is best to now let the process come to fruition and not allow myself to be distracted. I need to represent you, that’s why I am here, period.”
Torgeson and Peterson have frequently clashed in the past. He campaigned hard against the town’s $515 million streets, transportation and infrastructure bond in 2021 by targeting the mayor’s “liberal agenda” on signs.
He filed two ethics complaints against Peterson that year, but an independent investigator cleared here of the first and council declined to pursue the second as covering the same ground from which she had previously been cleared.
Torgeson then won election to council in August 2022 and took up his seat in January.
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on Twitter. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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